Artist Statement:

I am an acrylic painter. I began doing brightly colored landscape, still life, and animal paintings on wood panel. I love the smooth surface of the hardboard which shows only paint and brushstrokes with no canvas texture. The wood allows for nice hard lines which are abundant in my paintings. Nothing seems to inspire me more than hardboard covered in black gesso except perhaps for brown paper, which led me to a new style of painting. Wanting to create on paper, but not wanting to frame under glass, and wanting to use canvas without having to paint on it, I began painting with acrylic on torn brown contractor’s paper. I then block print rice paper with blocks of my own creation. Finally, I research my subject matter and handwrite the information onto acid free tracing paper. After all the components are finished I then collage them onto canvas completely encasing the paper in acrylic gel medium. The result is rather organic with a wonderful tactile quality which is very satisfying to me. Though collage is involved, I really consider it a way of presenting my original acrylic paintings on paper.

Then I began working in graphite. The results have been very exciting!

I love the emotion and detail achieved simply by using tone. I find that my acrylic style is transforming as a result of my graphite work. Sketching techniques have

 now made their way into my paintings.

In 2019 I am revisiting collage. I use paper on hardboard panels and incorporate words into each and every piece. I call it intentional collage because, there is no

 serendipity involved. All are carefully thought out and executed as designed. They are quite engaging!

 I love this artistic journey that I call my life!

Enjoy your visit to my website!